Category Archives: Rick and JoAnne

I have already related to you the mess we had with insurance over medical problems.

We came back to Colorado, and then after getting that straightened out, we saw JoAnne’s oncologist, and dates were scheduled.

As luck, or perhaps fine tuning, would have it, we had a three week hiatus in which to make another trip across country. We wound up traveling back from Colorado to Southport. We stopped (as usual) to visit our friends, Mike and Cindy, as Cindy is preparing for her starring role in “A Bad Year for Tomatoes” in November. (As of this writing, she did opening night and the second night’s play. This Friday night and Saturday should be their final curtain.)

We stopped around Tennessee and we wound up at Southport late on the evening of our arrival.

The boat was pretty much a mess. Books and other things not nailed down flew around during the hurricane. A solar panel pulled loose from the top and fell to the deck, ripping wires from the connectors. Fortunately, it wasn’t much of a mess, the books were cleaned up, the batteries checked, and we stayed with our friend at her apartment for a couple of night until I could clean the interior of the boat up.

We spend the next week doing minor repairs, and prepping the boat for the winter, dumping our water tanks and removing any remaining food stuffs to the car, to return that with us to Colorado. Why not use it there?

I repaired and tested the solar charging system. We had a major water gusher under the sink where our Seagull Water filter system resided, and had worked itself loose, releasing pressure when turning on the pressure water system. We move a few things to storage, removed a few winter clothes and after about a week on the ground there, set out again for Colorado.

This time, we took a few extra days, as there was no rush. We stopped again with Mike and Cindy and spent a full day assisting in the set build for the play at the local VFW Hall in Richmond, MO. I helped Cindy with her lines and we had a good time hanging out with them. The day we left, we both had colds, and were kind of miserable.

So, we stopped in Kansas for the night instead of making the long, eleven hour run from Richmond back to Colorado Springs. We spent the night got up late, traveled and arrived back here.

Over the course of the last week, we’ve been to multiple doctor’s appointments, been in and out of two hospitals and visited most of our kids.

A couple of days ago, our fourteenth grand child was born. His name is Lincoln Alan Dale Donaldson, and he was 5lbs & 15oz. He’s have a few breathing issues apparently though, and is still in the hospital until they can get him breathing correctly, even perhaps giving him some red blood cells to help as he seemed slightly anemic. Otherwise, he seemed healthy. His mom and dad (Lana and Patrick) are quite proud!

Baby Lincoln

Yesterday was the beginning of JoAnne’s chemo. She has six sessions. They are 21 days long (scheduling, not that many days in a row!.)

The first day is a lot of chemicals, drugs to prevent nausea. etc. The second set in the first session, will be 7 days out from the first day, and will be a short session to give her another dose of one of the chemicals. Then it starts over again on Day 21. This will go on for six total sessions, or about 18 weeks, interspersed with doctor’s appointments, blood work and other tests as needed.

We are hoping this particular chemotherapy doesn’t make her lose her hair like the first one did, but we’re prepared that it will, just in case. She has some hats and scarves, like last time. The chemicals are somewhat different this time as well, and her doctor said that people do not lose their hair “as much” with this type.

JoAnne is a tough cookie. She fought this last time and managed to beat it back for four full years, she never really even got ill as some do, through chemo, and she worked the whole time last time. This time, we’re completely retired and have nothing to keep us from fighting this all the way through. She’s going to get plenty of rest in spite of herself! ha!

JoAnne, the First Mate of the Sailing Ketch, Adventure!

We both want to tell you folks, those who are already out there and follow us, and those thinking about it, as well as our friends who are comfortable in their homes, snuggled up by the fireplaces, drinking their hot chocolates, or martinis by the fire:

Stop living life the easy way. Don’t pass the opportunities that come your way. Don’t live day-to-day and Check-to-Check.

Do NOT let life pass you by while you’re “waiting for retirement”. Don’t sit on your butts, thinking about all the things you’re going to do “When I don’t have to work again”. Do NOT wait for “enough money” (because you will NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!) to do the “RV Thing”, “buy a boat”, “go horse back riding”, “Mountain Climbing”, “Paragliding or skydiving”.

Just don’t wait. Do it. Sit down and make that list of things you want to do, and then check them off, one at a time. Save some money, go do one, pick a date, do another.

Life isn’t lived while you’re “waiting on it to catch you”. Life is lived when you grab that bull by the horns and wrestle his big ass down into the mud and hog tie him, then jump up and win that trophy.

The day JoAnne gets her walking papers from chemo, we’re headed back to Southport without meager belongings, and we’re going to empty out the Vee Berth, put everything we don’t need in storage (winter clothing, parts, junk pieces, extra crap that we “might need one day” and all the stuff that weigh us down, collect a couple of friends as crew and we’re setting sail for the Bahamas. Yes, it will be near the beginning of Hurricane Season. Yes, it might be the BEST sailing time. Yes, it will be relatively spur of the moment, pretty much “unplanned” and absolutely not the “right season”, but you know what? It’s well past time to do it.

We made a decision awhile back that we were going to live our lives, and do the “medical stuff” around life, not live our lives around the “medical stuff”. I’ll keep JoAnne safe, and healthy, and make sure she sees the doctors when it’t time, but we’re not sitting on our asses waiting for a “day, date, season or proper time” any longer.

To our friends Kevin and Debi – skippers of their own ships, be prepared, we’re coming for you, we need a crew! (Don’t be surprised if you get shanghaied!!!!!!!!!

limbo

1: often capitalized: an abode of souls that are according to Roman Catholic theology barred from heaven because of not having received Christian baptism

2a: a place or state of restraint or confinement trapping travelers in an airless limbo—Sam Boal

b: a place or state of neglect or oblivion proposals kept in limbo

c: an intermediate or transitional place or state the adolescent occupies a special human limbo—New Republic

d: a state of uncertainty The graduate was in limbo for a while, trying to decide what to do next.

e: a dance or contest that involves bending over backwards and passing under a horizontal pole lowered slightly for each successive pass

Last month I spoke about our lives in the last few years, the boat, JoAnne’s cancer and right after that we were put on alert watching Hurricane Florence form off the coast of Africa and make the long trek across the sea, to finally visit the USA.

In the few weeks after publishing that entry in August, I spent a lot of time cleaning up the boat, getting her ready for the fall trip to the Bahamas. Then Florence formed, and it appeared to be heading right for Southport, NC. The news was all over the place on possible hit locations, the NHC was all over the place, the Spaghetti models were everywhere. The only thing that was accurate was my own predictions that it would hit somewhere between Myrtle Beach and Beaufort, NC. And I was accurate about that part.

JoAnne and I started preparing the boat for a hurricane, and finally on Tuesday just before it hit, we also received a call from her oncologist’s office back in Colorado. We had four weeks to return to begin a treatment plan. A PET scan had been ordered and taken care of the Friday before. The doctors read the scans and decided she had some “area of concern” which the oncologist believed to be a recurrence.

On Wednesday morning, of “official, mandatory evacuation” and in light of a probably Category Four hurricane hitting full on in North Carolina, near to us, we packed the last of our belongings we’d not place in storage and I started the car, looked to JoAnne and said, “Where too?”

We had no idea where to go, which way to run or who would take us in for a few days. With the car running, we called her Brother down in Florida and told him the situation, and he had us come to stay with he and his wife for a few days. We knew we wanted to return to the boat before heading back to Colorado, and probably hit our storage locker once more for cold weather clothing, usually kept in storage in the summer.

We spent a week in Florida visiting with friends and her brother. When we attempted to return to North Carolina, the rivers were just cresting, roads were out, flooded and bridges damaged, roads closed, and basically those who got home to Brunswick county were already close in, and had an idea of which roads to take avoiding the dangerous conditions (and road blocks).

Many made it home, but we could not. Our time was running out.

We made for Colorado. Friends are caring for our boat, which suffered only minor, external damage. Lost a solar panel, the bimini and it was damp below. I have plans to head back there once we get JoAnne settled into a routine.

This past week was a mess with the doctors and insurance. We argued with both for hours, until finally, the insurance company told the doctor’s office what we’d been saying all along; we do NOT need a referral to her oncologist (since she has been seeing him for four years) and we’re on Tricare standard which does NOT require ANY referrals for ANY outpatient care.

The doctors also told us, that there were two areas of concern, not one. One area on her lung, and another somewhere between kidney and liver, very non specific. We will find out how specific that is on this coming Tuesday.

Another CT scan was performed a few days ago, after the battles with Insurance and the Dr. office, and we now have more information.

Friday she was called and told that she will be commencing chemotherapy soon, after a port is installed and we see the doctor once more so we can work out a schedule and plan to fight this. He told the caller to tell JoAnne that the lung issue is a “recurrence” rather than a new form of cancer (lung cancer perhaps). He was unsure prior to the CT scan, but is more confident of his diagnosis now I suppose.

(Personally, I am NOT more confident yet, and have questions.)

At the beginning I put up a definition. The definition was for the word Limbo, a word I used in the previous blog entry from August.

Limbo, from the definition is a place… without a destiny or destination.

It’s also a dance…

Kind of like life. Life is a dance or journey. You never know when you’re young how the moves go. You have to be taught. Some of us, like me, never learned how to dance, I just listen to the music. But, there are times when bending over backward to accomplish something important is how you get it done. Going in the wrong direction to reach your destination can get frustrating.

Our destination is, and always will be, to sail the islands, from the Bahamas on to the rest of the Caribbean. We have found that life isn’t really a “dance”, but a journey without a true “destination”. The “Dance” part comes in at successive times in life, when you’re worried, when you’re up against some seemingly insurmountable task and just about ready to give up and quit, you Dance.

It can be a jig, a limbo, a foxtrot, or the twist. Whatever it is, at the end, you will come out stronger, better, and more in tune with life.

JoAnne and I had a dance the last few days with Life. It wasn’t a journey, it didn’t turn out to be a destination, merely a diversion. We talked and discussed this dance, and found that we have decided that we will no longer live our lives around medical issues, we will deal with them around our lives.

After we get the plan in place, we’ll have about three weeks before the next chemo session. This will give us time to travel back across country, see our boat, repair the damage, prepare her for winter (by dumping water, checking engine etc) and collect the Colorado Clothing we’ll need, and then return to our family and support system here.

Adventure has proven she can and will survive whatever Nature throws at her for now. It’s not her time, and it’s certainly not OUR time.

So to our friends in Southport, Kevin and Debi, we thank you for looking after our home, Adventure, and WE WILL BE BACK SOON! To our family, Especially Nick and Levi, thank you for your support. To those we left behind in the disaster, you will rise up stronger.

I suppose the idea of cruising in a sailboat (or any boat for that matter) entails travel, seeing new places, meeting new people, having new experiences and generally involves the movement of your boat.

As JoAnne and I have discovered though, cruising the world at a SLOWER pace than most, we find that we make friends easily and tend to keep them, and we don’t have to move too much to do so.

Over the past three years we’ve traveled a lot, both by car and boat. We’ve been to places we’d never been together, made a lot of new friends, and found places we really enjoyed being… including Southport, NC. When we landed here, we thought we’d be moving further south as soon as possible, and that never happened due to a variety of problems. Everything from medical issues in our family, including my youngest brother, to engine issues, car problems and general circumstances conspired to keep us tied to, and in South Harbour Village Marina.

We’ve become so accustomed to being here, that when we were requested to leave the really nice slip we were in (due to the private owner selling it out to someone else) we felt like we were being evicted. We moved only a few slips down and remained on B-Dock where many of our friends live on their own boats. We even have a B-Dock group on Facebook for all of us to post things and to help one another if necessary.

Over the past year and a half here, I’ve worked for the marina. There were three reasons I took the job. The first reason was because I needed to take up some of my time, the second for the fun of it, and the third was for a little beer money or to offset the cost of the slip. The last doesn’t really do both, but, it’s sufficient I suppose. I left a job that paid me over 5 times what I make a dock hand here at the marina (including tips), so if I wanted a job that made a lot of money, I might have found something different. Mostly, this was for fun (and I even explained to the Dockmaster, “When this is no longer fun, I quit!) and it has been a lot of fun. But it’s really not my life, nor my lifestyle, nor is it something I will continue to do.

I don’t feel like I want to “die at work”. The truth is, I think we’ve heard Mother Ocean calling to us again.

We do have a deadline too. JoAnne has been cancer-free since August of 2014. We bought Adventure in January 2015, one year after her diagnosis. She spent months going in every three weeks to chemo, then the following Sunday morning to get a shot to help her white blood cells regenerate. She worked through all of it, albeit, with a few less hours than was normal.

She found this boat in November of 2014 after she was declared cancer-free. We did the survey, and eventually I wound up having my own medical issues after buying the boat. We still managed to beat mortality for a bit longer, and got to the boat, moved aboard and starting moving the boat south.

We spend long periods of time in places that we like, moving around only when necessary or when we truly HAVE to sail. We like it here, but again, we both need more, and to move on. And we’re not getting younger. In fact, JoAnne is seeing a rise in her blood work numbers about cancer.

Over the past few months, since June, her CA-125 blood test has been coming back elevated. It spiked, and in fact, doubled since last year’s test. The oncologist ordered a CT scan, and found nothing. Other tests have been performed, all showing “no problems”.

Right now we are working with local doctors, and they with Colorado doctors to set up a PET scan to determine if there is a recurrence of cancer. We will have three choices then….

We go back to Colorado if there IS a recurrence and go through whatever necessary treatment is available, designed to combat this hateful disease.

We take crap off the boat we don’t need, put food and water aboard that we do, and we set sail for the Bahamas.

If the “recurrence” isn’t great and it’s not time for chemo or other treatment, we still go (and this is what’s really up in the air at this time).

What we don’t know is how long we get to go for, how long treatments take (we can guess of course), or the outcome of such treatments. We don’t know the outcome of the PET scan, since it hasn’t been accomplished as of yet.

So, we’re hanging in Limbo right now, waiting for doctors and hospitals to arrange things and get going on this, get it done and let us know the situation.

Right now, I’m ready to quit my job to be here until she gets her medical tests done, so I’m always available for her. But, I don’t think I’ll do that yet. We also know she’s in good health, and good spirits, and has no issues at all, so we’re at the point of thinking this may be the place here blood work is going to “settle down” and stable for now. At least that’s my hope.

No matter what happens in the next few weeks, we will be making our trip to the Bahamas somehow. We prefer it to be IN our boat, under our own power, without the help of airplanes, or cars, but we don’t know yet. We also want to go back to the British Virgin Islands, again, in this boat rather than by plane. It’s going to happen, it’s only a matter of when.

I have a few things to do with the boat, nothing at all critical. She’s ready to go now, with the exception that I have a slight exhaust leak in the manifold, which probably is a relatively easy fix I think (gaskets most likely) and I want to work on a water maker system I have purchased, but haven’t even unboxed it yet. We can likely get away without using it, but, I’d like it on the boat for “just in case” at this point.

Other than that, a simple clean sweep of the boat, stowing things, and getting the deck mostly cleared is all we really have left to do to get out on a long voyage. We can leave here in minutes if necessary, though somewhat unprepared for a long trip, but short hops maybe. We’ve hesitated on starting provisioning again, due to the above medical issues keeping us waiting.

I guess, in a way, long term cruising or “extended cruisers” have to make a lot of compromises about everything from readiness to weather, to their abilities to medical problems. We are, I suppose not what some would call “cruisers” because we’re not constantly moving with the boat, but we are in so many other ways.

This town has captured our hearts. We love it here, so even if we run down the coast, or down Island we will be returning here, no matter what.

I hope all our friends, family, fans and followers will keep JoAnne in their prayers and thoughts for good a good medical report. Thank you all for reading.

I’ve been searching for information about the boat we own, called “Adventure”.

She has had three names I’ve been able to find through USCG Documentation, and owned by three people according to the USCG. Or course, this presupposes the boat has been Documented all along, and I suspect that this might not be true.

The first owner I can determine is James A. Mallon, and the boat appears to have been named “BESHERT”. I guess technically, it means “Preordained” or “Inevitable” really, and there are explanations having to do with “Soulmates” associated with the word “Beshert”. Since I don’t speak Yiddish, this might be all wrong, but, to me, it’s close enough and probably meant that to that owner. I can find little information on Mr. Mallon (except that he may have been a CEO for a large banking institution).

The next owner purchased the boat with the name “DUNA”… which, honestly none of us have an idea what it means exactly. Mr. Richard Stapleton was the previous owner before us, and is the real reason I am writing today. Mr. Stapleton retired from the US Government, as I did, a few years back, and had to sell the boat, he said, due to knee replacement surgery. He felt unsteady doing things on the boat after said surgery.

Dick Stapleton sold us the boat knowing we were planning to eventually be “World Cruisers” and we’ve honestly worked toward that goal, but have thus far been only “Coastal Cruisers”. Over the course of the next two years and a couple thousand miles we’ve moved the boat up and down the East Coast of the United States, exploring the Chesapeake, and Delaware Bays, Potomac River and managed to make it to Cape Fear North Carolina. A little short of the original goal. That goal remains, and we have decided it will happen, starting with Bahamas this season.

Two years ago, our friend and the previous owner of Adventure (Formerly Duna) began a battle with cancer, not unlike my wife’s own fight. A few days ago he posted that he had made the decision to give up the treatments. Here is his letter in full. (Note: I’ve asked for permission to reprint it, but there has been no response yet, but, that’s understandable, and since it is posted on FB mostly in public, I’m going to put it into the blog anyway as it is important to us all.)

Dear friends,

A little over 2 ½ years ago, I wrote to update you on the progress in my fight against cancer, and a few of the many ways in which Andrea and I have taken advantage of the weeks and months of life – well enjoyed. I must write to you today to say that that battle is nearing its end.

We made the decision to stop treatment last week. My body is telling me it’s tired, it’s time to rest. I began in-home hospice care this week and for the first time in years, I won’t have to go to a doctor appt. or hospital visit every day. It’s time to relax.

When I initially wrote, one year into that journey, I expressed my appreciation for knowing there was an end date as it let us reset priorities; less about getting the car washed and getting to Costco and more about shared experiences like travel, time with friends and family and visits to smell the roses at the New York Botanical Garden.

With Andrea’s unflagging support (itself a full-time job) and Hackensack’s wonderful care and experience, I reach the end of this journey with my bucket lists overflowing. Whether through work or shared interests, you have all touched me in some way and enriched my life.

Thank you, my dear friends, for being a part of this wonderful life.

I welcome emails or FB messages, and Andrea will make sure I see them all. I may not respond personally but please know I appreciate the love and support I’ve already received.

-Dick

With a heavy heart, I post this… While I did not know Mr. Stapleton well, I knew him well enough. He was, like me, a person who dedicated a good portion of his life to this Great Country, and was a sailor, like myself and my wife, JoAnne. Our paths never crossed in our respective jobs, but, I certainly know of his dedication in his position with the Department in which he worked.

Through Adventure, the ship he sold us, I continue to learn more about the heart of others.

For JoAnne and I, the future is blurry, no one knows what is coming tomorrow or the next day, usually. But, we intend to do our best with what we’re given.

Jimmy Buffett said it best;

“Let those winds of time blow over my head,
I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”

Like this:

We were set to pull out of the marina as the tide was falling. I had 15 minutes to play with before the water would be too thin for us. We waited for one of the crew’s family to come and say good bye and to meet us. We had cut it pretty close, but we were getting out.

The morning was chilly, but nice. The wind was clocking around though in the afternoon and I wanted the last of the north winds to take us down the coast as rapidly as possible under sail. I knew if we waited until the afternoon we would be tacking a LOT to go to the Southwest.

At 0905 I put the engine in reverse and some friends tossed the lines to Nick, our new crew member. He put the lines away and I began backing out and hit a bump. Mud, and the water was thinning.

“Crap,” I thought. Then there was a horn behind me where there had not been a boat a few moments before, and a shout from one of the marina guys, Norm, asking me to pull back in the slip. I yelled back, “Trying to get out before I can’t!”

He said, “Pull in, they are going for a pumpout!”

Katy B, a large power vessel wasn’t stopping, so I pulled back in. In a parking lot, the guy going behind you has the right of way. So, I treated it like a parking lot and pulled forward, knowing full well we weren’t getting out now.

They cleared us, and I began backing and slammed into the mud. Too shallow now. Cut it too close. Darn.

A quick check with the crew, JoAnne and Nick, told me we were going to try again. But as tide was coming back in around 1300. That didn’t set well with me because, honestly, I knew the winds were going to clock. They really wanted to get going on our journey. So, we ate some lunch, and waiting for Nick’s family to return once again this time to see us off the docks, and bring a friend who had come to visit them.

At 1315, we backed out on a rising tide. I still hit the “bump” behind our slip and after a moment of hesitation, I brought the bow around and we motored smartly out of the marina with people waving to us, yelling “Fair Winds” and “Good Luck!”

The ICW was quiet, the winds were beginning to drop, but I hoisted the main as we got a little ways out of the marina to use what there was, about 7-9 knots to help propel us down the water way, along with the engine chugging along. Engine was just fine. No overheating issues now.

A couple of miles later we rounded a bend and headed into the Western Bar Cut. I’ve done it a few times now in both my boat and Jay’s “Knot Working” so have learned it better.

Before we go on…. let me tell you another short story.

One week before, on a Friday (bad luck they say) we departed and wound up with overheated engine, rainy morning, crappy weather, and made it to the lighthouse when the engine overheated badly. I called for a tow, from SeaTow who brought us home to our slip.

So, we’re not really unfamiliar with bad luck.

Back to the story. This is the third or fourth attempt to get out of here and head south. Each time, something odd has happened.

On this day, things were going great. We were in the channel headed out, but now, by the time we hit the Western Bar and were under main sail and engine, the winds were turning against us. We needed to go directly Southwest.

We sailed on, passing our friends Jay and Kevin who went out earlier in the morning when we pulled back into the slip. They waved, took pictures and wished us luck. We kept going. After 30 minutes we were almost to the light house, to the place we’d had to turn around last time. Winds were now fully in our faces on the bow.

I can’t change the winds, so I did what any sailor would do, I tacked and adjusted the sails and we took off at almost five knots. I pulled out all sail, and managed almost 6 knots. Good, faster than I though. Course looked good, but we would be going right towards the shipping channel entrance, so I worked out a tack in the other direction and tried to gain as much SW direction as I could. Not going well.

When we got to the buoy out there, we tacked back and headed toward shore. At the end of the tack we’d gained roughly 1/2 nautical mile. Winds were picking up too. Tacking back in another 30 minutes gained us another half mile. On the third tack I realized while we were sailing well, it was not going to get us very far. I started considering going back in. Or going down the ICW.

Neither one sounded appealing. And everyone voted to go on. I restarted the engine and aimed south, figuring our computer applications told us winds would finish clocking back out of the north soon (by about 1600). Motor sailing against the wind is not really my favorite thing to do, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Except today.

We were making 2 knots most of the time. So I started “tacking off the wind” and trying to use the sail, doing shorter tacks so we didn’t head into shipping lanes or too close to shore. We watched a gorgeous sunset and the Southwest wind had a long fetch before us. After another hour, we were pounding into and out of waves, as they built first to 3, then 4 feet.

JoAnne began to get ill. I’d sent her down to rest (she’d taken medication that was making her sleepy, so she was laying down). Nick had gone down to sleep for a couple of hours so he could join me in the cockpit at 2100 or so that night.

I put the boat on autopilot, looked around and seeing nothing went below to double check on the engine. Oil smoke was burning off the engine and filling the cabin.

At that point I decided it was time to turn around. So about 2000 hours local time I awakened them and told them my decision. I suspect they were both disappointed, but neither let on. I brought the boat back around and Nick joined me in the cockpit to help me watch for traffic.

We slogged against currents coming out, and falling tides (again), into a bright, moon-lit night, looking for markers. At the last moment I decided against attempting the Western Bar in the dark and headed for the secondary shipping channel, giving me plenty of water, but adding 3-4 miles on our trip in against the currents.

I contacted Jay and he and Kevin would meet us at the transient dock (after they determined there was a slot open). We arrived about 2340 and tied off on the T-dock for the night, hoping to move in the morning. Nick decided to go home, called his parents who picked him us, I connected electricity and we still had SW winds. They never switched to come from the North.

The temperature was beginning to drop, but wasn’t uncomfortable yet. About 0145 Sunday morning something awakened me. It was the wind. It had finally clocked around out of the north and was blowing hard.

It was the wind I was hoping would be there about 1400 the day before to propel us south. I’d have taken us in at Little River or on to Charleston, SC. Alas, that didn’t happen.

The next day early on, one of the other boats was coming back in under tow, the marina was a bit mad at me for taking up the only slot, but I couldn’t get in at low tide (and I was NOT going to get up at 0500 to try to bring the boat in after what I’d just been through, exhausted, bringing the boat back in the ICW in the dark).

Fortunately, we came up with a solution and put him on the inside against the bulkhead. Apparently, they didn’t want to try getting him into his slip. Though, a week before, SeaTow put me in MY slip….

So… there are some lessons here. But, I’m not going into them all right now. Suffice it to say, I’ll make my own decisions from now on about moving the boat, no one tells me. We go when *I* know it is ready. Not before, not after. I’ll wait for a good weather window, not an “OK” weather window. I won’t start off again without having the right tides in the right places… and so many other seamanship things I already KNOW I should do, and discounted some of them.

Never again.

Today, it’s 18 degrees here. We’d have been near Charleston, SC, with no heat (very little, propane heater, wood stove are insufficient at sea). We have electric heating on the boat right now, but requires AC power. Only have that running generator or shore power.

After all was said and done, I made the correct decision to come back in because had I not, three of us would have been exhausted, tired and freezing, and perhaps a danger to ourselves and others.

We’re watching the weather now, looking for a window. However, the boat isn’t quite ready. We’re decluttering our cabins, removing extra things that won’t be required for a trip. We want to lighten our load of junk (How in the HELL do you collect junk on a boat??? I think most of the stuff I’ve taken off isn’t really necessary for the boat, just conveniences we use day to day.)

A trip to Colorado last month was to visit my doctor and renew my Blood Pressure prescriptions. After the heart attack and open heart surgery a couple of years ago, no more chances. We also got to visit our new, baby Great Grand Daughter! She is beautiful and her parents are good kids. I hope they do well in life and raise that baby well.

Two proud Great Grandmothers meeting Chloe

Back at the boat we started the work to reverse all we did for the hurricane watches, putting sails back up, untying all the things we tied down, strapping down things that we don’t want moving about, and removing a few other things from the boat like some of our winter clothing we won’t be needing much in the south.

I hope to have all the little chores done by Wednesday or Thursday this week, and JoAnne will be doing some grocery shopping while I finish up engine work (cleaning, tightening, checking fluid levels etc) and make sure all the rigging is good. So far, so good.

The primary plan is to head for Marsh Harbor, Abacos and range in and out of that area to see things. We may take some time to go down the coast too though, and we’re planning at least one “shake down” cruise before we set out into the ocean again.

“I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind on the morning of April 24, 1895 was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail, and filled away from Boston, where the Spray had been moored snugly all winter. The twelve o’clock whistles were blowing just as the sloop shot ahead under full sail. A short board was made up the harbor on the port tack, then coming about she stood to seaward, with her boom well off to port, and swung past the ferries with lively heels. A photographer on the outer pier of East Boston got a picture of her as she swept by, her flag at the peak throwing her folds clear. A thrilling pulse beat high in me. My step was light on deck in the crisp air. I felt there could be no turning back, and that I was engaging in an adventure the meaning of which I thoroughly understood.” – Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World, 1900.

EDIT 21 March 2018: I have received numerous questions regarding Guy’s boat. A boat was spotted off the coast of Honduras recently, and many believe it to be Guy’s boat. I’m inserting the only image I apparently took of the boat, zoomed in on the aft end of the vessel. The boat is a 40+ foot racing sloop, known to have a 7′ fin keel, and around a 60 foot mast. The image does NOT show the new wind generator that I assisted him in installing a day or so before his departure.

To be CLEAR, his boat was found off the coast of Cape Cod, about 400-700 nm out from the area, in either September or October of 2017. The date it was discovered is unclear. The boat was intact and no one was aboard. Given that he disappeared somewhere off North Carolina right after departure (in July) I venture to guess this is about right giving being set up north bound currents.

There is NO WAY the boat found in the Gulf of Mexico would have been Guy’s “Crazyhorse”. The Gulf Stream doesn’t take boats to the south off the US Coast line, and no way it could have found it’s way into the Gulf of Mexico. The image I saw of that upside down boat had two small keels. Not a fin keel. (End of Edit)

Above image of Crazy Horse, and the stylized “Horse Head” on the back of the boat. I apologize for the quality of the image but I was taking pictures of a departing boat and only caught the back of his boat and slightly out of focus. – RD

On the 16th of September I took a leave of absence from my marina job for six months – until April anyway. Maybe a bit longer. We did a quick (month long) road trip and returned last evening from the road to Colorado and back.

Our whole purpose for being on this boat is to go places. Our boat has sat here for most of a year, December 2016 until now. We had some bad experiences with the water, waves, wind and weather and took a break, but it’s time to go again. For awhile I was of a mind to sell the boat and get back on land. I don’t like JoAnne getting sick, and having experienced sea sickness myself, I don’t want her to be ill ever again. However, we aren’t giving up quite so easily.

But, we need to move, we need to go, we need to see things. Life is short and if we sit here, we waste our chance to see other parts of the world.

Nothing has driven that idea home more accurately than the sad news I received a few days ago.

A few months ago an older man came to the Marina here at South Harbour Village. His name was Guy (pronouced as Ghee) Bernardin. He was in his 70s. He was aboard an older boat by the name of “Crazy Horse”, a racing sloop. The boat was in need of attention, and he’d just purchased the vessel for a non-stop race around the world.

Guy and I quickly became friends. I helped him on several occasions with lines and moving things around for him. He had another friend named Larry Brown who came to visit and stayed with him for a few weeks while working on Crazy Horse. Larry and I spoke often as well, while various parts were refitted on the boat.

Sometime in June I had asked if I could interview him and write an article for the local paper. He refused at first stating that he was leaving soon for France to go back to work on his other boat, a Spray (Slocum) replica. I found out more of his story in that conversation – that in 1998 he had completed a three year, round-the-world tour which duplicated for the most part, Joshua Slocum’s original trip. He explained that the boat was steel, and he was going back for some refit work.

The Interview was never to take place as my wife and I had also gone home in June to do medical appointments and other things. Guy was ready to depart save for last minute things when we returned.

When we returned, I saw Guy infrequently, but I did chat with him on and off. I assisted him in installing his wind generator a couple of days before his departure sometime in late July (I do not recall the date, and didn’t write it down). I know he left and came back in with either engine or steering issues, or perhaps the weather bothered him. I never got the chance to ask, as the following morning he was gone again and I never heard from him again.

Sometime in August (about a week or so after his departure) I wondered how he was doing. Then I heard a rumor about a radio call for help and some people were saying they thought it might have been Guy. I did not hear the call. I don’t know the details of the call, who made it or why. I completely discounted the idea it was Guy. He was, after all a seasoned traveler, sailor and knew what he was doing. I never believed anyone actually heard the call themselves and were guessing (which they likely were).

I forgot all about it. Until this past week.

JoAnne and I had to go back to Colorado for a few days. A message came in from Norm at the South Harbour Village Marina while we were traveling with friends, asking if I had heard the news about a friend who had been in the Marina for awhile this past summer. I received the sad news that he was missing and his boat had been found.

A few minutes later I had an article mentioning him and learned that his fate was not what I would have expected.

I was shocked, and to this day I am still in shock I believe. I’d written off the original rumor of the radio call because I felt it couldn’t have been Guy, it couldn’t have happened to a world cruiser, racer and a man who was very good at what he did.

Guy Bernardin went missing sometime in August we believe, somewhere off the coast of North Carolina, close to us. His life raft was aboard, the boat intact as far as I can tell from the article. I have little information on what might have happened to him but have first hand experience on his boat.

“Crazy Horse” was a typical racing sloop, designed in a minimalist fashion, but there were narrow decks, running rigging all over the place to the cockpit, a scooped stern, easy to have fallen from there, life lines were short to the deck (no more than a foot probably) and little to grab onto. Guy told me he had not had time to install jack lines when I questioned him the last time I spoke to him.

Guy Bernardin

We were raising the wind generator mast and he was putting in bolts and connecting the final wires. I asked him about the jack lines, and he said that it was something he had not bought and probably wouldn’t require them for this part of the trip. I didn’t question his wisdom on this for I knew he was experienced. The image below was taken just a couple of days prior to installation of the wind generator. I was shooting images of boats going through the fairway and happened to catch the stern of Crazy Horse in this one.

Crazy Horse on RIGHT of Image above

It is now very apparent that Guy, while experienced in around the world cruising, a six-times around the Horn man, and a seasoned racer made a mistake that anyone could make. He didn’t think anything bad would happen.

According to the article (Written in French), the boat was recovered with no one aboard.

For those who know the story of Joshua Slocum (and I hope all Sailors know it, if not, read it) Slocum traveled solo around the world, with an old wreck of a boat he rebuilt from the keel up. A completely “new” boat from the old boat rose of the “ashes” (ok, sand actually) and he proceeded to travel the world, visiting exotic locations and becoming a very famous man in the late 1890s.

Bernardin sailed a steel boat called Spray around the world, following the footsteps of Slocum over a three year circumnavigation.

Like Slocum, Monsieur Bernardin disappeared at sea. Unlike Slocum, Crazy Horse was found without it’s Captain. Spray was never located. Today we can only assume the worst for Guy. He never finished his last voyage. At least I tend to believe he wished to complete it with success, not in the manner it ended.

So, to sailors everywhere…. do your best. Never skimp on safety, know your limits. Know that any little thing can kill you out there. I’m sure you all know this, and I’m preaching to the choir, but seriously, I’m tired of losing friends like this.